[Dennis H.]

Did they ever mention how the occupants of the van faired? Seem like with a hit like that, there would have been some injuries, not to mention the lawsuits that might ensue, especially after they see this video and the neglect the driver had.

[Half-Inch Stud]

circa 2008, Had my 1st 95 Towncar Brakes fail an hour away from home in rush hour commute. Pedal started going/leaking down with use, then lost all the schlitz. 1st gear was an instinct, but the emergency Brake was a THOUGHT.

Had to foot the Em Brake while pulling the Release to provide a luxury solution. Made it home. Bought a rebuild MC rather than a Junkyard treasure.

That taught me to make darn sure the GTO EM Brake was goodNtight.

[1968firebird455]

A complete disregard for the safety of others. A 1300 horsepower car has no place on public roadways especially one with ZERO engineering put into the braking system and a completely unqualified driver. If your throttle sticks, you stop immediately and fix it. So many warning signs for the driver and passenger, none for the poor van that got hit. I watched a video on it last night and the guy bragged that it took $280k and two wives. before showing the accident footage and first thing that popped in my mind is those are two smart women for separating from idiocracy.

[jhein]

Originally Posted by 1968firebird455

A complete disregard for the safety of others. A 1300 horsepower car has no place on public roadways especially one with ZERO engineering put into the braking system and a completely unqualified driver. If your throttle sticks, you stop immediately and fix it. So many warning signs for the driver and passenger, none for the poor van that got hit. I watched a video on it last night and the guy bragged that it took $280k and two wives. before showing the accident footage and first thing that popped in my mind is those are two smart women for separating from idiocracy.

Who knows, maybe he lost his two wives in earlier test drives? "No honey, you don't need to strap in"... LOL.

[jhein]

Some questions about the failure. The guy mentions something about upgrading the brakes in the segment before the drive. 1300 hp is a lot, but if the car was just street driven, not raced, would a brake upgrade still be necessary? Better brakes are always a good idea, but if he was just putzing around the street would it really matter? Or was it the fact that he relied on them to drive the car because of the throttle problem? I have no idea what rpm a 1300 hp blown motor would idle at, but I would guess that you shouldn't have to ride the brake while cruising. So what part of the system would fail? Overheating the fluid, overheating other components of the system. Destroying the pads and rotors? Caliper seals? What would it be, or all of the above?

Does anyone else remember the corvette with a turbine engine? I think that was back in the 80s-90s.?? It was something like a late 70s vette with a gas turbine engine. It would idle at 60mph and to go slower you had to ride the brakes.

[Half-Inch Stud]

^^^^ does everybody remember stock drums and their fade away?

[jhein]

Originally Posted by Half-Inch Stud

^^^^ does everybody remember stock drums and their fade away?

I've never felt real significant brake fade. I've felt some but still had stopping ability. In the video. it looks like he just had no pedal at all. you can see when he tries to brake, he instantly notices that he's got noting. At least that's what it looks like to me. I don't know enough about brake failures to know if just overheated brakes can do that??

[Tom Vaught]

If the brakes were dragging and the brake parts were getting really hot then the brake fluid would break down and you would have nothing for brakes.

The vehicle is old enough that could have been built with a single reservoir master cylinder.

Tom V.

[Sirrotica]

The scenario was similar to a 18 wheeler descending a long steep grade and using the brake repeatedly down the grade. now they have air brakes and no fluid to boil. The brake lining on a conventional car will heat to a point that the friction material has near zero drag coefficient, that is obviously what happened in that video,

The guy driving had zero preparedness for an emergency, and obviously had never mentally prepared himself for such an occasion.

I've driven a car for a few days during the winter by using the T 400 transmission to slow down, because it was just too damn cold to work on the brakes laying on the ground outside. Fortunately dropping a T 400 in reverse to slow down does work, unless you stall the engine, yeah I been there, done that. Hard on the driveline, but it can be done.....

As has been said. if you live in the rust belt you will lose your brakes at sometime during your driving days. It always seems it's when you need them the most too, like towing a trailer.

Recently I was towing a car dolly with my 99 GP on the dolly and lost the rear brakes. I traversed over 40 miles home just using the transmission to slow down along with the less than stellar front brakes that were still operating. I of course all back roads, and didn't drive more than 35 MPH, but I got both vehicles home safe, and sound.

Common sense is getting more uncommon though, that guy had little to none.

I believe there were injuries to the van occupants that they hit, but I guess they recovered, luckily.

[72projectbird]

Originally Posted by 1968firebird455

A complete disregard for the safety of others. A 1300 horsepower car has no place on public roadways

I strongly disagree. HP doesn't have a direct correlation to safety. Anyone should be free to build what they want, with whatever power levels they so desire. This is a case of stupidity, not excessive power. Having a car with a sticking throttle and riding the brakes until they fail has nothing to do with what the car makes for power. Not that this POS makes anywhere near 1300HP.

[Joe's Garage]

It should be:

1,300 (alleged) HP Mercury Comet BRAIN FAILURE CRASH !!

[Scarebird]

Originally Posted by jhein

Some questions about the failure. The guy mentions something about upgrading the brakes in the segment before the drive. 1300 hp is a lot, but if the car was just street driven, not raced, would a brake upgrade still be necessary? Better brakes are always a good idea, but if he was just putzing around the street would it really matter?...

in short - no.

This is a function of vehicle weight and speed.

[Tom Vaught]

The speed he actually had no control over.

Tom V.

[242177P]

Part of the inspiration behind this build? He had a vivid dream that his car had a supercharger.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyRibK0uftk

[Heybuck]

I can imagine the scenario was a series of events culminating in this disaster.

Guy is probably highly gee'd up knowing the YouTube people are coming to see and tape his car being street driven.

They get in the car and already his adrenaline is pumping. They start off and the owner knows he is starting to have issues keeping it running smoothly. To compensate, he's letting the power run and holding back by applying the brakes.

He is NOT wanting to pull it up and let the camera crew film all his hard work having failure issues. It's a "loss of face!!"

At this stage the brake fluid is boiling or near to it. Pedal hits the floor and he is now in a near panic stage. All this is happening in seconds.

His adrenaline rush is now so great his power of reason ie, turn it off, is non-existent. All he can visualise is he is going to crash.

All this time the passenger has a compromised level of reason. He's only thinking of how to get out of this situation.

What we all should be grateful for is there were no pedestrians crossing in front of the impacted cars. And I'd still like to know that the persons in the SUV have no lasting injuries.

Ian

[Jeff Hamlin]

That I posted and was clearly overlooked, so here it is again,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1pzE4weOp4

[Elarson]

Originally Posted by Dennis H.

Did they ever mention how the occupants of the van faired? Seem like with a hit like that, there would have been some injuries, not to mention the lawsuits that might ensue, especially after they see this video and the neglect the driver had.

That video was a complete packaged gift of proof-of-negligence for a personal-injury lawyer.

Eric

[Stuart]

The followup video that Jeff posted gets into what happened with the other driver.

[rohrt]

When he shifted up was that park on that kind of shifter?

I have experince complete brake failure in a few different forms. Painic will cause a fight or flight reaction. For me i have shifted into low to slow down. Luck also plays a big part in stopping safely in that kind of situation.

[65madgoat]

Nice to see Autotopia do the Q&A